Shaina Taub’s Suffs is an ambitious musical on the Women’s Suffrage Movement, brings off this difficult assignment of being historically accurate with aplomb, conviction, and economy. Though the show does have several surface resemblances to a certain smash hit historical musical, namely Hamilton, Suffs is a fascinating and compelling portrait of a political conflict on a huge canvas. The cast includes 24 ethnically diverse actresses playing multiple roles of both genders.
The Hamilton similarities are many. Both shows originated at the Public Theater; are sung-through; feature book, lyrics and music by the same person who is also playing the lead role of a fiery revolutionary (Taub is a blazing and determined Alice Paul), and the villain is a buffoonish authority figure given hilarious specialty numbers. Rather than a pompous pop-singing King George III, Suffs’s antagonist is a vaudevillian, soft-shoe dancing President Woodrow Wilson (Grave McLean in a delightful comic turn).
In addition to her charismatic performance, Taub has written a varied and tuneful score with individual styles for each of the many figures—and there are enough to stock a PBS documentary series. The main conflict is between two leaders of the Suffrage campaign, the youthful, fearless Alice Paul and the conservative, diplomatic Carrie Chapman Catt (a steely Jenn Colella). There is a parallel split between African-American leaders Ida B. Wells (magnificently majestic Nikki M. James) and Mary Church Terrell (dignified Cassondra James). There are numerous additional character threads woven into this colorful tapestry including that of crusaders Inez Milholland (dynamic Phillipa Soo), Doris Stevens (endearing Nadia Dandashi), Ruza Wenclawska (dashing Hannah Cruz), and Lucy Burns (comic Ally Bonino), wealthy benefactress Alva Belmont (big-voiced Aisha De Haas), and Wilson associate Dudley Malone (delightfully awkward Tsilala Brock in a convincing male role).
Leigh Silverman’s seemingly effortless direction allows the audience to keep the various characters and events straight and lets various plots flow smoothly. Natasha Katz’s lighting and Mimi Lien’s unit set resembling the steps of the Capitol aide with the seamless transitions in this near-perfect example of multiple story-telling. History comes alive in Suffs.
